The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

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Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862

Before Woodrow Wilson, instead of a State of the Union Address, the President would send instead a written message spelling out what the state of the Union was. This was sent at a particularly difficult time for the North in the Civil War — the winter of 1862. 

As I look upon the events of the past few days and weeks, this quote has been reverberating through my mind as particularly appropriate.